The pompadours never left - rockabilly still lives on in Japan

Have you ever seen the music video of "Young Blood" by 5 Seconds of Summer? The male lead in that video is Johnny Daigo. And that pompadour is not just for show. He, along with other members of "Johnny Pandora", fashion a pompadour daily. Moreover, some of the Tokyo Rockabilly Club members, who to this day often dance in Yoyogi park, also wear full pompadours.

The towering, slicked‑back pompadour is just one of the signature trademarks of Japan's rockabilly club members. Many of them also wear leather jackets. And of course, they perform synchronized rock n' roll dancing. The fact that they still maintain these dramatic pompadours is a big reason people say rockabilly never died in Japan. In fairness, it's only a very, very small proportion of the population, but it’s a living subculture nonetheless, not a nostalgia act.

There is even a day dedicated to Rockabilly in Japan; February 8th annually. The reason for the date is that on February 8th 1958 the film company Toho hosted the very first Western Carnival at the historic Nihon Gekijō theater in Tokyo’s Yurakucho district. The event introduced Japanese audiences to the high‑energy world of rockabilly and it not only caught on, it stuck. And still sticks almost 70 years later for a small sub group of rockabillies in Japan!